Author Interview : Nish Amarnath
Hello everyone,
Today I am going to introduce you to the author of 'Victims for Sale'
Let's start!
1. Did you always want to become a writer?
Nish: I was a precocious kid who grew up in different parts of India, Africa and Europe. I’d wonder about esoteric concepts like the afterlife, even when I was as young as four. I never ceased to ask “Why?” for everything. I was initially more into painting and singing. Writing found me during a particularly traumatic phase of my childhood. I was really very young then, and I was so inspired by Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree series that I just sat down to write a fantasy novel of my own! My first short story was published in a nationally popular children’s magazine when I was eight years old. A counselor recommended an IQ test for me. They found that my IQ was 136, which is about two standard deviations from the average score of 100. Education experts suggested home-schooling or special schools for me. I chose to continue going to regular school as I wanted to be just like any other kid. I wrote a series of school-based novels, and these years of writing gave me practice. When I was around twelve, I remember having a discussion with my parents about which of three paths I wanted to take: painting, singing or writing. After much contemplation, I said, “Writing.” By then, I’d visited some music directors, who’d appreciated my singing voice, and won several state-level and national-level prizes in painting and music competitions; I’d even been written about and interviewed a lot in the media for my painting and singing. So, I recall my parents being quite surprised at the outset. But writing, despite all its uncertainties as a career choice, somehow felt right for me.
2. What is one thing you find in common between fiction-writing, poetry, music, artwork and journalism?
Nish: Well, I’m a mystic, romanticist, an incorrigible nomad and a bit of a rebel! Journalism, fiction, poetry, singing, songwriting, art and video-making merge at different levels to give me the identity of a storyteller. Telling stories through these mediums is how I connect with the external world. I enjoy birthing new characters and creating alternate realities involving different permutations and combinations of situations whose outcomes I can control as a creator of these forms of art! In that respect, being a storyteller is akin to the magic of nature.
3. What is one quote or mantra that you swear by?
Nish: I believe in being practically idealistic as opposed to being idealistically practical. That’s my own play on words! By practically idealistic, I mean chasing one’s heart’s desires in a pragmatic manner as opposed to falling for the illusion of an idealistically practical scenario of “good grades leading to financial stability in a good office job where you can be a model employee and all that” which is essentially what many millennials of South Asian descent have been brought up to believe in. The world has changed so radically and that it’s really about taking ownership of one’s own creative and emotional learning processes to create something meaningful that can do something for someone.
4. Describe Victims for Sale in one line.
Nish: An aspiring TV reporter fights to expose a sex ring targeting mentally challenged women.
5. We understand that Victims for Sale was picked by HarperCollins and is doing very well in India. For those who haven’t yet read it, can you provide a glimpse into what it’s about?
Nish: Couched as a psychological thriller and crime suspense novel set in London, Victims for Sale delves into the sexual and reproductive rights of women in a milieu fraught with conceptions of ‘family honor’ among many traditional South Asian communities. The practice of preserving one’s family honor at all costs is rampant among many South Asian families and communities worldwide, even today in 2020, so Victims for Sale seeks to bring to light ambiguities around the concept of ‘informed consent’ while challenging the notion of sex as a subject that continues to remain taboo among many older-generation Indians. The book also lobs a sliver of light on the challenges faced by an immigrant Indian student in the Western world, presents a snapshot of the ethical dilemmas that investigative reporters face on the field, and subtly questions the absence of concrete security measures for freelance journalists, particularly women, who go undercover in dangerous and precarious environments to unravel the truth.
6. What inspired you to write Victims for Sale? Is it drawn from your real life?
Nish: Victims for Sale was born out of my experiences as a journalist. While on the field, I discovered that family members of mentally challenged women were looking to sterilize them due to a fear of these women getting pregnant as well as difficulty in taking care of their feminine health. Conversations with sources included gynecologists, who cited real-life horror stories, and that set me thinking. The vulnerability of mentally challenged women in this regard has been an under-reported and under-studied topic. Additionally, I’d exposed a trafficking racket in Bahrain as a reporter for IBT Media (formerly Newsweek), and had earlier on volunteered in special schools for the mentally challenged as a pre-university social sciences student. I decided to draw upon these experiences, and my own personal growth in London, to conceive of a novel, which I felt would be an effective medium to underscore this issue and sensitize people to the realities of trafficking as well as the psyches of special-needs individuals through the chronicles of underrepresented characters.
7. What genres would you like to work on?
Nish: As a journalist and author, I’ve covered such a diverse gamut of subjects ranging from the Arab Spring and the euro debt crisis to highly technical aspects of deal flow, restructurings, loan transactions and policy framework planning to trafficking, education, gender neutrality and terrorism to romance, crime, race and immigration. Given the comprehensive space of this spectrum within which I’ve operated, it’s the story that’s most important for me, as a novelist and a fiction-writer. I believe that the genre that’ll do that story the most justice is the one that’ll ultimately stick. For instance, Victims for Sale initially went on submission as a psychological thriller. Later, HarperCollins couched it as a crime thriller and suspense novel. In all of this, the originality and realistic feel of the story, along with the authenticity of its characters, is what got the attention of a big publisher, not the genre it was categorized under.
Many traditional publishers and literary agencies are recognizing that the lines of distinction between genre fiction and multi-genre oeuvres are increasingly blurring. My foremost priority is to keep my readers engaged and happy. So, my current approach involves strengthening my voice as a novelist who specializes in complex emotions and conflict. That’s what I do best.
8. Are you planning other books? How soon can readers expect your next book?
Nish: I’ve just completed writing another novel, Twin Flame, which is a contemporary romantic and family drama infused with historical overtones and elements of magical realism. Love seems impossible for a Holocaust victim’s descendant, a writer whose tryst with a Math prodigy rekindles his desire to carry forward his bloodline. I worked on this novel under the editorial guidance of Larry Kirshbaum, former chief of publishing at Amazon Publishing and Al Zuckerman, founder of Writers House NYC who has represented authors like Olivia Goldsmith, Nora Roberts and Ken Follett. I signed with a film agency, The Story Ink, earlier in 2020, and I’m seeking literary representation for Twin Flame after my previous agent in New York fell sick. So, when Twin Flame will be out depends on when I find a literary agent for it. Outside of that, I have three other fiction titles on the cards. One of these is a part-financial, part-political thriller, which some readers are suggesting could be a sequel to Victims for Sale. The other is a novel that will most likely be a sequel to Twin Flame, and this novel will dissect a melting pot of issues concerning mental health, LGBTQ rights and systemic racism against the backdrop of psychic fraud, which is rarely foregrounded in fiction – this is the project I may start work on next.
9. How has your journey as an author been so far?
Nish – It has been a very rewarding one, but it hasn’t been without its challenges. I think the biggest challenge for me, in terms of breaking into fiction, was straying away from the mold of public perceptions of my work solely as a financial journalist who had published two non-fiction business books, prior to Victims for Sale. Now, Victims for Sale has done really well with the public, so this has enabled me to share my voice on many social issues at various forums, ranging from autism and media ethics to race, gender dynamics and mental health. For many years, I was in depression, which peeked around the time Victims for Sale was released by HarperCollins in 2018. On hindsight, I think it has given me a fuller range of emotional experience as a writer. As far as the publishing process goes, it’s pretty slow. Before I found representation for Victims for Sale, I attended two writers’ conferences in New York where I connected with a few literary agents and even pitched directly to publishers. During this time, I received interest from Simon and Schuster in New York, but they wanted me to Americanize my narrative. I didn’t feel that would do justice to the heart of the story, which is set in the UK. So, I shifted my focus to finding an agent who would connect with my voice as a writer. I received an offer of representation from the Red Ink Literary Agency. Through the entire process, I learned the virtues of patience, belief in oneself and indefatigable faith in one’s work. It’s sometimes really good to give it a bit of a rest and divert your focus for a while when you know you’ve tried your best. That’s how I believe I broke through the blockage. When I woke up to an email from my literary agent—a bolt from the blue—about HarperCollins’ interest in acquiring the manuscript, and the advance apportioned for it, I nearly fainted! At that time, I hadn’t even been in touch with my agent for about four months.
10. Who is your favorite Indian and Western author?
Nish: In India, my recent favorite is Janice Pariat, whose The Nine-Chambered Heart I found fascinating. The simplicity of her narratives is beautiful, and the abstract cadence of her writings is something I feel is closer to the reality inside of our own heads. Outside of India, I’m a huge fan of Jeanine Cummins. Her latest book, American Dirt is gold. She strikes a judicious blend between description, action and high emotional voltage.
11. Any message for your readers?
Nish: I’d encourage all of you to chase your dreams, even if that means being delusional. Never listen to anyone who puts you down, calls you a loser or a failure, or says your dreams aren’t practical or achievable. We may have various constraints, but let’s view them as opportunities to tap into the resources we do have so that we can build an authentic life that can be lived from a place of truth, light and love.
Thanks for reading.
